News from County Councillor Marianne Overton MBE
Spring News from Marianne Overton MBE
(March 2025)
Wishing you all the very best!
This is my personal newsletter to let you know what I am doing on your behalf and to keep in touch with you. Let me know if I can help you.
Solar on Roofs, not farmland!
Residents continue to battle against global companies industrialising almost 10,000 acres of productive farmland. The area is big enough to swallow the whole of Lincoln City, an area where 110,000 people live and work. With little or no local benefit, it is you and I who pay for all this through inflated electricity prices on lifetime contracts - costs our country can ill afford. The applications are fronted by pop-up companies with no capital to cover any costs, should anything go wrong.
Meanwhile vast acres of commercial roof lie vacant. In other countries, the Government requires all new build to be energy efficient and all commercial roofs covered in the next five years, including car parks, on railways and motorways. Yes, they may need to use the modern super-light panels, upgrade the grid in places, but best of all, use the energy on site and cut the grid out.
Just in our immediate area, we already have Springwell 4,200 acres, Fosse Green and Leoda 2,400 acres each, vast lithium battery storage at Navenby, Wellingore, Welbourn, Aubourn and Coleby and a 32 acre field for a huge “substation” less than a mile from the village of Navenby.
If all of the applications nationally go ahead, we would be ten times oversupplied. We need to make significant objections so this Cliff Edge set does not go ahead.
Thank you for your brilliant support to date. We are up against a huge machine and need every bit of help we can get! We have succeeded on other seemingly very difficult applications before, and we need to do it again. In summary, if this was really about renewables, the Government would require all new build to be energy efficient, all commercial roofs to have solar and a bigger drive for insulation so we can use less.
I chair the Cliff Villages Solar Action Group (CVSAG), meeting fortnightly with a very impressive team. We had packed halls at public meetings held in Navenby, Welbourn and Brant Broughton. Thank you very much indeed for signing the petition, writing letters and donating to enable professional support. Can you help a little more? www.cvsag.orgThe petitions are being submitted to both County Council and District Councils and we are gathering a thousand letters for Ed Miliband. I also had a parliamentary meeting on March 10th and am working through my national channels as well, and the National Solar Alliance.
Make sure you count! Join the rally!
Saturday, 15th March 10.30 for 11am start, with banners - homemade or otherwise! Cornhill, Lincoln. Solar on roofs, not farmland. Our local group is meeting from 10.30am, to look after each other and create more of a voice together, hopefully big enough ot be noticed by Parliament! Welcome from the Cliff Villages Action Group Local services need local decisions.
New application at Coleby
A Battery Storage site is now proposed at Coleby, just below the Cliff Edge. Thousands of Lithium batteries in containers could occupy the landscape. The developers are at Coleby on March 13th 11.30-3pm & Navenby Venue on 14th 3-7pm. Parish Council invite is March 24th 7.30pm.
International Women’s Day - Helping the Homeless
I celebrated International Women’s Day with videos made at the National Conference in Manchester then straight down to a cardboard box! I joined around 40 people sleeping overnight outside the Cathedral to raise awareness and funds for the homeless. Thanks to great organisers with the YMCA and fellow Lincolnshire Independent, Nick Coxon. You can help by donating here.
National Voice
I am very pleased to have joined a very useful Leaders' Council, held jointly with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Kerry McCarthy MP. Good first meeting yesterday.
I am calling for a “pause” on these NSIPs to give GB Energy a "look-in". I also hope we can get the following;
1. A statement calling for all new build to be energy efficient. The cheapest energy is that which we have not used.
2. For a requirement for commercial roofs to be covered in solar wherever possible.
3. For energy feed-in tariffs to be reviewed so that householders and businesses can access sufficient receipts for a shorter pay back period, same as the big suppliers. Currently a national tariff encourages energy to be produced on relatively “cheap” farmland many miles from where it is needed, creating loss en route. Energy should be produced close to where it is needed and differential feed-in tariffs could make that happen.
4. There needs to be a limit, to prevent the cumulative impact of vast solar industrial developments on open countryside. For example, my home area, which has almost 10,000 acres of farmland out of production and industrialised sprawling over an area big enough to easily house over 100,000 people in the City of Lincoln.
All this, while vast areas of commercial roof lie vacant.
New Mayor for Lincolnshire is up to you!
On May 1st, you have two votes, one for County Councillor as usual, and for the first time, you also get to vote for Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire! The Mayor works with councils and others to bring strategic direction to the whole area. For example, in transport and infrastructure, housing and planning, environment and climate change, skills and employment support, economic development, working with the NHS, police and fire to improve health and wellbeing and public safety.
These are currently done by our District and County Councils. If you thought our District was hard to influence, then how about something ten times bigger? More than ever, that person needs to be able and willing to freely bring the best solutions, without big party politics. Wikipedia states we have four possible candidates so far, three big parties and one Independent me.
New Planning Rules announced
The new Infrastructure Bill is a backward step for us as it intends to reduce the ability of local voices to influence planning. Currently 95% of applications are fine and quickly decided by officers, but it seems Government wrongly sees local voices as “blockers” to be pushed aside. This is an area we would like devolved to the Mayor.
Independents grow in strength and number
Our Independent and smaller party councillors have increased in number and influence to almost 20% of all councillors, in addition to the majority of Parish Councils who remain loyal to their residents and independent.
Independents also lead 64 District and Unitary Councils and are in the leading team of a quarter of all councils.
With no party instructions, independents are known for listening to residents, thinking about the issues and working hard to achieve the best for all.
Local Government provides or influences almost all local services for residents, employing 1.3 million people on an annual budget of £127bn, in England this year. The Local Government Association where I am Vice Chairman, is the voice of Local Government. We take your voices right into the heart of decision-making.
Packed with vibrant councillors I hosted a packed conference at the White Hart Lincoln. We enjoyed an inspiring programme of Independent District Council Leaders; Anne Dorrian (Boston Borough) and Ashley Baxter (South Kesteven District Council) and Deputy Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, Rowan Cozens. Excitingly, we also have Independent Leaders of Gainsborough, Sleaford and Grantham Town Councils. The Independent Leaders have made changes for Council to listen and engage better with the public, valuing councillors, improving local facilities and better services for young people.
“Speakers Soap Box” included the rise in our cost of living, keeping safe from prostate cancer, how to correctly read people with neurodiverse conditions, and introducing five Independent Councillors from our soon to be combined North East Lincolnshire.
We linked up online with the Independent Network, discussing fund-raising and how to get elected with our booklet by Jim Thornton, “Elections on a shoestring”. We ran a six week programme for candidates and councillors which has been recorded.
The afternoon sessions covered the new proposals for a Mayor and for dissolving our councils. Following the discussion on “Solar on Roofs, not farmland” actions included signing the petition (pinned to the top of my facebook) and sending a thousand letters to Ed Miliband. Thank you to the LGA Independent Group for their support and to so many members and candidates for taking the trouble to attend.
Want to keep in touch?
If you know anyone else who would find this newsletter useful, please suggest they drop me an email here. I write a weekly bulletin which you can find here. You can also keep in touch with social media. @overtonmarianne
or facebook
Best wishes,
Marianne
Marianne Overton MBE
Working together for people and planet
Local services need local decisions